The Moviegoer

On the question of cinema superiority, another country has been heard from. The new film at the Beacon Hill is from Sweden, and if it can be taken as typical of the quality of Swedish films, let us have many more.

"Torment" is the story of an 18 or 19 year old schoolboy who falls in love with a shopgirl of poor reputation. Their love brings about her regeneration as well as much happiness to them both. Unfortunately, the girl has been having an affair with a sadistic school teacher who has been regularly getting her drunk and subjecting her to the sort of depravities the demented, educated mind dreams up. Between tormenting the girl at night, and the classroom torment he gives the body during the day, the schoolteacher causes one death and one near-ruin among the young couple. Strangely enough, he does not fall down an elevator shaft in the end or meet with any other fit (and customary) punishment, but the last scene indicates a total breakdown is near.

The simple and delicate story of "Torment" is given an over-all gentle treatment that, by usual film standards, could be said to drag at times. However, the producers deserve commendations for not playing up the sensational elements offered in the plot (leaving that, it would seem, to the able American press agents). "Torment" is the first intelligent filming of a non-idyllic adolescent love affair, I've seen.

The two young people who played the boy and the girl in "Torment" when it was filmed in 1946 have since been called forth to bigger things. Mai Zetterling, the girl, has been seen lately in several J. Arthur Rank productions, and the boy, Alf Kjellin, has spent the last couple of years in Hollywood in the employment of David O. Stelznick--making no pictures, but having his named changed every so often. That is a pity, because he is an actor of something more than promise. Miss Zetterling doesn't really have a great deal to do in the film, but makes her part believable.

"Torment" was shown in every city in Europe and was given the Grand Prize at Cannes in 1946. It was shown a few months later in New York to critical approval. However, it failed to meet with the approval of the Legion of Decency, an organization which "rates" every film for Roman Catholic consumption. The American distributors were unwilling to offer the film for the national market until it had been cleared by the Legion, being fearful of poor business. By making three cuts; the film has now been cleared. Through its unofficial pressure, the Roman Catholic group has again censored films for non-Catholics as well. I strenuously object. George A. Leiper